Data: Italian live sports piracy grows 26% YoY
June 29, 2023
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
Although the incidence of piracy among the adult population in Italy is stable at 42 per cent, the number of illegal acts of piracy has grown by 9 per cent in 2022 to around 345 million. The data comes from a survey on audiovisual and sports piracy, conducted by Ipsos on behalf of the Italian IP protection body FAPAV.
Live sport piracy saw the highest growth compared to 2021, accounting for 41 million acts of piracy (+26 per cent), followed by TV programmes (+20 per cent) and TV series (+15 per cent).
Movies continue to be the most pirated content, accounting for 35 per cent of audiovisual piracy (120 million), although the trend is down by 4 per cent year-on-year.
Digital piracy accounted for 39 per cent of accesses to illegal content, with 2.3 million subscribers to at least one illicit IPTV service.
According to the Ipsos-FAPAV study, the potential damage to the Italian content industry is €940 million, of which movies and TV series account for €673 million and live sporting events for €267 million.
The estimated turnover lost by the Italian economy is €1.7 billion, with 9,400 jobs at risk.
A proposed law on the fight against online piracy is now under discussion in the Italian Senate, following the unanimous approval by the Chamber of Deputies in March 2023.
The bill gives new powers to the Communications Regulatory Authority (AgCom), including the power to order the immediate shutdown of the site that illegally broadcasts the content.
Also foreseen is an increase of penalties both for those who illegally make copyrighted content available, and for end users who risk fines of up to €5,000 and up to three years in prison.